Prologue 2

~~~~~~~~~~

Nikolai Yezerverk came to Kamui Daimon about a year before the incident. He had lost and gained his share of platoon members. He lost two mechanics as well, though only because they had others things they wanted to do. He was fine with that.

But then his latest members surprised him. His childhood best friend and her little brother. Well, her brother came first, but it was nice to see the familiar faces.

He had only met Wataru a handful of times before the younger boy came to the island. But Hannah he knew well. They were in the same class for their six years of elementary. It had been nearly two years since then, but the two were able to click back to their old friendship without issues. He still knew her sensitivity as well as she knew his arrogance.

So when Wataru LOST, he had sensed her anguish almost immediately. He himself felt frustrated, and it more than doubled during the final battle when he thought he died too. But everything was alright, and he was more than grateful for it. He'd even hug his cousin for-

No. He'd never hug her for anything. She was far too clingy on him and he hated that she dotes on him like he's a child. He doesn't hate her... He just loved oxygen more.

He sighed. But it's only because she cares.

He heard the story about his uncle and aunt from his father. No doubt that his cousin blamed herself for running out into the blizzard so suddenly that night. He wanted to ask why, but had always decided against it, not wanting to bring up any bad memories.

Kirito-san is the only one who can bring it up without feeling so guilty.

He remembered when the last time he came to visit her. She lived in a dorm with her friends, and when she insulted the blonde man about a humanoid robot he made, he'd reply with how her parents were dead, and the arguement would continue on. No one knew why they were dating. Either way, he was both happy that she has so many friends, and creeped out by her insanely unpredictable nature.

But that unpredictablity is why she's known as 'The Upcoming Blizzard'.

She herself didn't know how she got her nickname, but she seemed proud of it. Despite it being the caused of her parents' death, she had already faced many other storms.

She was only eight when it happened, but she never let the tragedy bring her down. She fought back her fears and embraced the past to build herself up to be the person she is today. Frankly speaking, aside her height and some degree of maturity, she really was no different than she was four years ago.

He smiled to himself. I guess she's still pretty amazing.

~~~~~

Niara Levanov was 18 during the whole incident with Seredy Kreisler. At the end of it, she was surprised to find herself so calm when they were letting the students handle terrorists. Then again, she did the same thing four years before.

"I wonder why stupid stuff like this keeps happening in summer..." She muttered to herself.

Currently, while waiting for the helicopters to arrive, she was watching the Ezeldarm students being led outside the school, standing beside a familiar black and white haired man. He didn't respond and merely kept typing on his laptop.

"Like the stuff with Detector, Paradise and Mizel happened during summer." She spoked up again. "I mean there's the second Mizel thing, that happened at winter, but wasn't the Innovator thing also-" His eye twitched.

She stared at him. "You seriously only pay attention if I mention that stuff."

"Because most of anything else that comes out of your mouth is trash." He bluntly stated.

"Well then, you're the trash bin for the day." She retorted. She was ignored once again. "Fine. We'll talk about the stuff you like." She hummed before continuing. "So how's Eva doing?"

"You're going to see her soon." He replied simply.

"Yeah, yeah. But I wanna know from you." She smirked. "What do those lovey-dovey eyes see?"

"I'm not playing your games." He sighed exasperatedly. "Here, take a look at this instead."

He showed her the information on the laptop and she stared. "Wow... So Seredy is actually-" She was cut off by someone calling out to them from behind her. One of the Metazawas was rolling an old man on a wheelchair.

Jin took the handles and was planning on taking him directly to the docks, but Niara bent down in front of them. She stared right through the old man. "Listen here, mister old-ass celery mcgee, you almost killed my cousin so expect me to come see you in hell."

~~~~~

"Evie!!"

"Hiya, Nia-" The blonde girl was cut off by a hug from her best friend.

"It's almost been a whole year! Missed you a bunch!"

"I missed you too!"

"I bet you missed Jin more though."

"T-That's..."

"Don't bring me into this." The male sighed. He nodded at Eva. "I can't go back straight away. You might need to wait a little while longer."

She smiled kindly. "It's alright. I know you're busy. I'll take Seredy Kreisler to Yagami-san and he'll take care of the rest."

"Right. Thank you."

"Of course."

"Now kiss." The Russian ordered teasingly. The male only sighed as the blonde flushed in embarassment.

That was when her cousin came to talk to them. Well, his friend came to talk to Eva first, something about her LBX, and then he came.

Nikolai had an unnusually nervous look, and she knew why. She smiled at him and told him what he wanted to hear. His parents aren't going to force him to come home if he doesn't want to. He and Hannah ran back to tell their friends.

"Man, I didn't even get to tell him I'd be back here in a couple of weeks." The Russian woman smiled deviously. "His parents were only going to be okay with it if I promised to babysit him for them."

After all, they are cousins.